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Election of Pope Francis demonstrates power of spectacle: Hume

St. Peter's Square, seen from the top of St.Peter's Basilica, can hold upwards of 400,000 people and is as powerful a public space as can be found anywhere on the planet. (Oded Balilty / the associated press)

Twitter notwithstanding, the millennia-old traditions of a papal conclave transubstantiated nicely into the digital age.

Though Catholics would have us believe the star of the recent Vatican show was the newly named Pope Francis, it was really Michelangelo, Bernini, Bramante, Carlo Maderno and the other Renaissance artists/architects who remade Rome into a city of spectacle.

Centuries later, the buildings, squares and sculptures they created still induce a sense of wonder. St. Peter’s Square, which can hold upwards of 400,000 people, is as powerful a public space as can be found anywhere on the planet. It is at the heart of Vatican City, Rome and, for the last few days, much of the world’s attention.

Some observers fretted about whether the primitiveness of the papal selection process could survive the onslaught of television cameras, social media and the reportorial hordes.

They need worry no longer. Not only was the conclave ready for its close-up, it handled the spotlight like an old pro. The costumes were fabulous, the set even more so. Even the white smoke/black smoke technique transitioned to the screen brilliantly. It wasn’t intended for TV, of course, but could well have been. For a couple of days, the eyes of the world were so focused on a simple capped chimney that the appearance of a seagull became an international event. The church’s genius for theatre was fully revealed by 21st century technology, not diminished.

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Bernini couldn’t have done a better job of St. Peter’s Square had he designed it last week, not in the mid-1600s. Two colonnades reach out from the basilica then curve around in two giant semicircles to embrace the visitors. Bernini called them “the motherly arms of the church,” and that’s exactly what they are.

As one critic put it, “The colonnade becomes simultaneously a dramatic frame for the church, a nurturing enclosure for the crowds of faithful, and a stage for the processions and other sacred spectacles.”

The camera allows us to do what visitors can’t: rise above ground level and see the piazza from on high where its architectural gestures are readily appreciated.

Backdrop to the spectacle is the magnificent dome Michelangelo designed for St. Peter’s in the mid-1500s. Despite its solidity, it defies gravity as it reaches for the heavens.

The only other institution to grasp our deep-seated need for spectacle is the British monarchy. Like the Catholic Church, the powers of the House of Windsor aren’t what they once were. The Queen remains little more than a legal requirement; no longer does she reign over us in any significant way.

But because of its mastery of the art of spectacle, the Royal Family is more popular than ever. In the service of power, spectacle becomes obnoxious and oppressive. Just look at North Korea, where spectacle is an instrument of state control. Stripped of any meaning beyond itself, however, spectacle can be compelling. It is theatrical, occasionally operatic. It absorbs and entertains. But when it’s over, we turn around and go home.

Happily, popes and princes are less relevant than ever. Yet in the 21st century the spaces they created to show off their powers and enact their dramas feel more central to the communal experience than ever. These spaces are urban artifacts from earlier times. There are no equivalents in Canada, let alone Toronto. Last time a pope came here, he was relegated to a runway at Downsview Park.

Without such spaces, urban life loses the sense of communality that allows us to be a part of something much larger than ourselves. These are spaces that define a city, and our relationship to it.

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